In 2015, Tesco reported that that they threw away 55,400 tonnes of unsold food. Yet poverty and the amount of people using food banks in the UK continues to grow. Surely there’s an obvious thing that could happen here, right?
The supermarket chain has agreed to donate all of their unsold food to good causes. They will work with 5,000 local charities to aim to completely end food waste in their stores by the end of 2017. The announcement follows a pilot scheme in 14 stores called the ‘Community Food Connection’, which over the last 6 months donated 22 tonnes – enough for 50,000 meals. Tesco is now appealing for charities to come forward to take part in the scheme.
Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis said:
We believe no food that could be eaten should be wasted. That's why we have committed that no surplus food should go to waste from our stores. We know it's an issue our customers really care about, and wherever there's surplus food at Tesco stores, we're committed to donating it to local charities so we can help feed people in need.
Morrisons have previously announced a similar plan.
[via Independent]
